Chennai, Sep 27 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged Prime Minister to intervene and expedite release of funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme considering the future of 43,94,906 students in the State.

In a memorandum submitted to Mr Modi in New Delhi, he said Tamil Nadu has been implementing

the SS scheme successfully since 2018, which is a comprehensive initiative for the entire school education sector, extending from pre-school to class 12.

Funding for this scheme is allocated annually subject to approval by the Project Approval Board (PAB) with contributions from the Centre and the TN Government in a 60:40 ratio.

The approved budget for 2021-22 was Rs. 3055.42 crore; out of which Rs.1598.82 crore has been released as central share. Likewise, for 2022-23, Rs.2107 crore has been released as central share against the approved budget of Rs.3683 crore and for 2023-24, out of the approved budget of Rs.3584 crore, Rs.1871 crore has been released as central share, he said.

For the year 2024-25, the Project Approval Board (PAB) for Samagra Shiksha has approved an outlay of Rs.4305.66 crore, with a committed liability of Rs.3585.99 crore for Tamil Nadu. Out of this, the central share of 60% amounts to Rs.2151.59 crore. In spite of having sent the proposal for the release of first instalment fund (25%) on 30.04.2024 from the State Project Directorate, Tamil Nadu, no amount has been released so far.

Mr Stalin said meanwhile, the Union Government has strongly urged all States to establish Schools under Prime Minister's Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme and to formalize a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), with the respective State Government for this purpose.

In the proposed MoU, Clause (i) said "States will implement all the provisions of National Education policy (NEP)-2020 in entirety within the entire State, as the main objective of this scheme is to showcase the implementation of NEP-2020 through the PM SHRI Schools".

He said Tamil Nadu has been implementing most of the provisions of NEP-2020, including the breakfast scheme under the Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme (CMBFS) which is a milestone in the history of School Education in the Country. The scheme is benefiting 21,03,585 students studying from class 1 to 5 in 37,685 Schools, which no other State has implemented so far.

Reiterating that Tamil Nadu's concern regarding the NEP-2020 primarily relates to the three-language formula put forth in the Policy, the Chief Minister said historically, TN has been following the two-language formula (Tamil and English) to protect the State's cultural identity and to ensure students proficiency in global languages.

Even though, NEP 2020 states that, "there will be a greater flexibility in implementing three language formula and no language will be imposed on any State", the Clause (i) of the MoU does not reflect this spirit of the policy, leaving no scope for any flexibility in the language formula.

MORE UNI GV 1615